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P.S. If virtual support has been helpful, please share as well. Difficult to do in person local things anyway at the moment. Hope everyone is well and in good spirits!
Hello,
I am new here; trying out my free two week trial and loving the Edu kindred spirit I feel here.I have just started delving into the world of homeschooling.
I am in SE Michigan and wondering what other families have found helpful as local support, pre or during covid. I have a 3 and 5 year old.Thank you!
EmeliaRecently, we did fun activity. My daughter and her friend each invited 3 people to a Zoom play date. Previously we didn’t know their friends and they didn’t know ours. We introduced out favorite stuffy, played scavenger hunt and would you rather and it was a blast! Then from the new friends we met we did a painting party with them and they each got to invite a couple of friends, (again ones we didn’t know). Now we have a bigger circle of friends and some fun memories!
Currently listening to The Enchanted Hour by Meghan Cox Gurdon and really enjoying it. Considering ways to read aloud beyond children’s books with the kiddos to an activity to do with my husband.
Southern California, Oceanside to be specific! Would love to meet up for collaborative learning days!
Oh man, I love this! One thing my husband and I have both been focused on is reiterating the CAN vs. the CAN’T—for example, if our 4.5-year-old is launching pillow missiles too close to the living room ceiling fan, our script is, “We can throw the pillows in your room, instead,” or suggest an activity we can do with throwing outside.
I love these ideas for scripts for us parents to help our kids understand we’re having a difficult time.
I’m going to try to use something similar to Autumn’s script, but with counting down. Deep breaths really help when I’m feeling frustrated, and I like the idea of sharing that with my kids by telling them how I feel and how I’m helping myself to calm down.
Also, my favorite script and trick for getting my kids upstairs for bedtime is to enthusiastically sing, “We’re marching up the stairs, we’re marching up the stairs, HI-HO the derry-o we’re marching up the stairs” as I’m marching and swinging my arms ready to go and almost every single time they drop what they’re doing and join in singing with me and sometimes I’ll add a twist like, “we’re tiptoing up the stairs” in a whisper, after I’ve gotten them moving in the right direction. ;)
When I’m about to loose my cool because of my child’s tantrum I use the phrase, “Mommy is feeling really upset/frustrated at the moment. I’m going to walk away for 2 minutes to help me calm down then we can finish this conversation.”
When my daughter is having a meltdown and trying to tell me what is wrong while she is screaming, I say, “Take a deep breath. I cant understand what you are saying when you are screaming.”
When she doesn’t want to pick up her toys, I say, “Then I’m going to win!” She’s super competitive, so an instant competition gets her attention and gets her engaged.
After potty training my eldest daughter took over a year from start to finish, I knew we needed a more organized approach for my second. I read Oh Crap, Potty Training, it was so eye opening about how children hear what we say, how our choice of words (and the tone in which we speak them) strongly impacts the child’s perception. Under this method, with daughters 2 and 3, diapers were “all gone” at 18 and 20 months, while they wandered the house bottomless and my most used phrases became “pee goes in the potty” and “sit on the potty when your poop wants to come out”. Yes there were plenty of patience testing messes, but overall totally worth training early, getting out of diaper duty (washing or buying), and creating the potty habit before they’re old enough to have an opinion on the subject!
Both early trained daughters got to the point where they saved poop for naptime, knowing they’d get a diaper, and after a couple times of that the diapers were gone for naptime too. The thing is, kids don’t want to have to deal with potty messes any more than we do. In the diaper they don’t have to deal with it, but in their own cribs at naptime, a poop is not welcome by them. It took a couple yucky bed poops for mine to choose to try to put the poop in the potty before naptime instead (with prompting). One of mine needed privacy even before age 2 for her to relax enough to poop. The only prize I gave was praise, and big girl undies by the time they were 2.
Daughters 2 and 3 were 98% trained by second birthday as opposed to daughter 1 not trained until 3 after trying all through age 2 with no method.
If you’re having troubles with an older child my heart goes out to you, but the only advice I can give is if you’ve got more kids coming, I highly recommend starting around 20-28 months with the method in “oh crap potty training”. Good luck! <3My kids are 8 and 5, and I just started doing ‘snack boxes’. Every morning, I put a variety of things in their box – pistachios, small turkey sticks, organic fruit pouches, rice cakes, etc. and usually a ‘treat’ like organic gummy bears. If we have muffins in the freezer I’ll sometimes include those as well. Then, throughout the day, the boys don’t even have to ask for snacks. They know if they’re hungry, they can get anything out of their own snack bin, fresh fruit, or cut up veggies from the fridge. It helps me decide once for the day, and I magically don’t hear ‘I’m hungry!’ every 4 seconds (which is THING haha).
Totally feel you! I have a 3 month old and a two year old and the pandemic made it much harder. With travel restrictions and having to be extra careful, I wasn’t able to get help as much as I could’ve sans pandemic. One thing I’ve realized about my 2yr old is that he’s been much grouchier with not being able to see friends and for a while we weren’t getting outside much at all because I was consumed with taking care of myself and the new baby. Since I’ve just gotten my bearings a bit I’ve been trying to get us outside for a walk each morning (so much work, but so worth it!) a good walk or even a sit outside while the two year old runs around helps all of our mental health tremendously.
Also, if I’m desperate, I try to FaceTime one of his toddler friends/my friends with a toddler. He’s an extravert, so he needs people!! (And so do I!)
Also, it’s hard on these pandemic streets! Give yourself lots of grace!
